Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 8

Helen

They spent the next night travelling through the forest in darkness atop his horse. Helen's hands were still bound, and the rope was attached to him. His left hand was settled across her waist as his right hand held the reins and steered the horse. The arm around her waist felt heavy against her body. They moved slowly in the deep snow below them. Helen's shoulders started slumping in sadness for each tree they slowly passed as they moved further and further away from her village. She might have chosen to leave Ejfjordswerf, but this was not the way she had imagined leaving, not without saying goodbye to her family. They would be so worried for her. And her sister would probably blame herself, that she had let her leave in the night. And what made it worse, was that she had promised her to return.

Her stomach ached painfully at the thought of her sister. She gritted her teeth and let out a heavy sigh as they rode. Her breath came out as white smoke in the cold air. She could feel how the cold clung to her skin, making her cheeks burning red and hissing with stinging warmth. Winter could do that to you sometimes, when your body gave up sending signals to your brain that you were freezing, hoping you would find some warmth, and instead gave you the illusion of warmth as you froze. She tried to hide her face in her scarf, shielding herself further from the cold, but her body let out an involuntary shudder. The darkness and cold of the night had already settled in her bones.

Ten must have noticed how she shuddered because he pulled his cloak around her, welcoming her into his warmth. Her body tensed up at the sensation of his body that much closer to hers now that the thick cloak did not separate them. But the instant heat that wrapped around her made it impossible for her to stay tense, and after a while she relaxed and leaned into him. The hardness of his muscled body made her tense up slightly again but being this close to him was so warm that she couldn't help but lean into him.

Helen stared up at the night sky and greeted the stars that hung in the black sky. The moon shone her pale light in the horizon and granted her some sight in the darkness. The snow glittered peacefully around them, and the only sounds in the wood was the sound of their passage and the occasionally owl that hooted to the night sky. Helen realized that this could be the first time she would be out all night. That Ten would make them ride through the whole night, and only settle once day threatened to break.

It was strange to her to think about the fact that Ten lived his life under the night sky. That darkness was as natural to him, as light was to her. She looked up at him and studied him for a short moment. His green-blue eyes were strangely alluring in the pale silver light from the moon, and his sharp features became both smoother and stronger at the same time in this darkness. His high cheek bones cast a slight shadow across his cheeks, almost hollowing him out, making him look like a true creature of the night. But at the same time, he looked calm and at home in the darkness, his features relaxed as they rode. His mouth was placed in a neutral line, and his eyes scanned the path ahead in a leisurely manner, and it all, both the sharpness and the calm and assuredness of him was somewhat pleasing to look at.

With a pang in her stomach she realized that she found him handsome as she looked at him. Nausea threatened to bubble up in her stomach. What kind of a freak was she? It was one thing to think such thoughts about a dark one, which was abhorrent on its own, but to think that of your own kidnapper who was most likely bringing you to your death, was completely crazy.

Helen sighed, between those thoughts and the fact that she felt so calm in all of this, surely had to mean she was losing her mind or something. Her mouth went dry as she looked down at the snow-covered ground and tried to wrap her head around all that had happened in the last day and night, her eyes fixing on nothing.